The national media would have had you believe that Texas has been purple since Barack Obama ran for reelection in 2012. Still Democrats are winless in state-wide elections since 1994. James Talarico, perhaps the most radical progressive to ever seek high office in the state, is the man that Democrats are willing to sink their entire war chest on promoting.
Democrats and members of the national media would have had to believe that it came down to Republican nominee Ken Paxton’s electability, with them saying that only Sen. John Cornyn had a chance of winning against a Democrat. They forget that Paxton has never lost a race in his entire political career. They forget that Paxton willed himself to a historic, landslide victory over an incumbent despite being outspent by $150 million.
They also forget that Paxton has outperformed Cornyn during their recent respective elections. In 2020, when Cornyn had the benefit of Donald Trump boosting turnout during the race, he managed to win by 9.6 percent. Paxton, who most recently retained office in 2022 and earlier faced a contentious primary with the last of the Bush dynasty, won by 9.7 percent.
Despite his history as a titan of Texas politics and perhaps the most effective state attorney general in living memory, Democrats and their media allies would like you to believe that this time it’ll be different. It’s the same story that we have been sold time and time again.
Democrats poured an obscene amount of time and money into Texas in 2024. One week before the election, they began promoting a poll that stated it was only a one point race between Sen. Ted Cruz and Collin Allred. Cruz would go on to win by nearly a million votes. Trump would win by 14 percent of the vote and gave Republicans massive in-roads with Hispanic voters.
Again, the same story was told to us in 2022. The nationally known progressive icon Beto O’Rourke was set to take on long-time incumbent Greg Abbott. Paxton was considered to be vulnerable and RINOs in Texas pushed George P. Bush as a safe alternative. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had bragged that the blue wave was coming for Texas and that a flip was “inevitable.” Again, Paxton handily won by nearly 10 percent while Abbott beat Beto by almost 11 percent.
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2020 was the same script. Then-candidate Joe Biden claimed that the Lone Star State was “an important battleground” because he, like Democrats seemingly always claim, was trailing in the polls by just a single point. Democrat Congressman Marc Veasey stated that this cycle was “the best time we’ve had since Jimmy Carter to win Texas.” Of course, Democrats would again go away empty handed after the election.
In 2018, Democrats had landed a unicorn of a candidate. Beto O’Rourke was still thought to be a moderate. Many considered him to be likeable and he was boosted heavily by the national media and Hollywood. It was seemingly impossible to travel more than a block without seeing at least a Beto sign or two. CBS and the Houston Chronicle had both predicted that this really could be the year that Democrats could win it all. Beto outspent Ted Cruz two-to-one and Democrats still failed to win a single state-wide race.
2016’s polls were particularly memorable. Hillary Clinton proudly proclaimed that Texas was absolutely winnable. Cornyn claimed that Trump was political poison and labelled him an “albatross” that would sink the GOP, a term he used just weeks ago to describe Paxton himself. Cornyn’s longtime ally Matt Mackowiak stated that Trump’s candidacy would be an “extinction level event” for Texas Republicans. It turns out that it was only Hillary’s turn to lead Texas Democrats to defeat, as she and the panicans watched Trump cruise to victory by nine points in the state.
The Obama years were no different. In both 2012 and 2014, Democrats and the media reassured voters of victory and that their drought of state-wide wins were finally over. Instead, Texans gave the U.S. Senate Ted Cruz, who won by a massive 16 percent of the vote.
Despite the money and manpower that Democrats have set ablaze in Texas, America First Republicans have won in the state time and time again. Despite the cries of RINOs who would like you to believe that only feckless, moderate candidates can win, history has proven that Texas is a haven for strong, conservative victories. 2026 will be no different.
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